EYA Citizen Scientists at Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre

The women of CSI Moberly: Citizen Science Investigation at your service!

Erin graciously agreed to introduce students at Moberly Elementary to the world of bee biodiversity.

"Are these bees dead?"

"Well honey, they're not sleeping!"

Erin teaches grade three students how to get up close and personal with pinned bee specimens, respecting their fragility.

To see bees is to love bees.

Well, we have the remains of a June bug on the left and what I'm pretty sure is a European chafer beetle on the right.

Practicing TLC for the DPB (Dead Pinned Bee).

Meanwhile, in another part of the urban jungle . . .

A paper wasp munches on a juicy spider. . . or is it a harvestman, aka daddy longlegs?

 What we think is a common eastern bumblebee (Bombus impatiens) gathers pollen from California lilacs.

Compare the male Melissodes and its long antennae with the female below.

She's the one who wears the pollen pants in the family.

Female . . .

 and male.

Note that the tail from this swallowtail in missing. Perhaps chomped on by a bird?

Good News for Vancouver Bees: Saving the Arbutus Corridor

Let's focus on some good news for National Pollinator Week. Now that the City of Vancouver has purchased the Arbutus Corridor, countless bees and an important pollinator corridor have been saved.

The combination of cultivated gardens and weedy verges make up a healthy biodiversity of plants that support bees and good nesting sites for a wide range of native bees.

Many of these bees are smaller than honeybees and they do not sting.

These bees ensure the berries and fruit along the Arbutus corridor develop ripe, plump fruit.

They may not make honey, but working as a team they are actually more efficient pollinators than honeybees.

Bumblebees and honeybees can sting, but male bees like this one cannot sting. If you learn to tell the male bees from the female, you can pet them like a little cat.

This female bee is carrying at least two different kinds of pollen in her pollen baskets.

This native shrub, Douglas' Spirea is like cotton candy for bees. They scramble over it collecting pollen.

Thistles also attract bees of all stripes.

 These umbels made of tiny flowers attract the wee bees that tickle when they land on your skin.

This bee has bright yellow hairs that mimic the pollen it carries.

California poppies attract bumblebees, leafcutter bees, turquoise sweat bees, and more.

This bee's setae, or branched hairs are completely coated in orange pollen.

This flower in the aster family (Erigeron, I believe) was attracting bees of all stripes.

Flowers in the carrot family attract the tiniest of bees.

I'm thrilled to be one of the instructors this year in World in a Garden's Bee-Coming Leaders: A Bee School for kids. We'll be going on safaris to watch these native bees every day of the camp.

These kids will be able to mentor other kids who want to learn more about bees and the stewardship issues around creating healthy habitat for pollinators. Many thanks to the City of Vancouver for protecting this important site and let's make sure it is developed and enriched for pollinators for the future.

It's Good to Bee Home

It's so good to be back with my home boys and my home bees. The backyard is an overgrown jungle full of berries and purple podded peas I grew from Saltspring Seeds. These are the photogenic peas on the cover of Dan Jason's new book: The Power of Pulses.

Now that I have a wee window of downtime, I had to go perform a meadowtation at Mountainview Cemetery. Right now it is a riot of buttery yellow large-flowered coreopsis (Coreopsis grandiflora).

a There are bumblebees, honeybees, and turquoise sweat bees swimming in the flowers and fish swimming in the meadow.

The fish are part of a project by artist Marina Szijarto.

 On the way back from the cemetery I noticed this lovely boulevard garden. Those drumstick alliums are beautiful even before they bloom.

And what about the colour in these echinacea flowers? Spectacular!

Bee-Watching at the Devonian Gardens

 My friend Sue and I visited the Devonian Gardens, just 15 minutes out of Edmonton. Since it's on the way to the airport, it was very convenient to visit on the way home. One of the plants that attracted the most varieties and numbers of bees was thyme, planted in carpets all through the main garden. These carpets provide important pollinator pathways throughout the gardens.

I don't think the pollen this honeybee has collected is from the thyme, but she is definitely topping up on nectar here.

This mystery mint was very popular with the bumblebees. It was difficult to find some of the labels.

There was a nice collection of columbines here in the shade. I think they look best mixed up like this.

 This aesthetic, introduced at the entrance to the garden was common throughout the site, with an emphasis on xeriscape plants. I'm excited that shrubby penstamon in hardy to this zone. It's such a beautiful bumblebee plant. In the background of this photo you can see some children dressing as bugs, bees and butterflies for a special family program in the garden.

So this is the silver lupin that is native to the prairies. It's gorgeous.

 In the foreground you'll see a species of plantain that was attracting bees.

 These chives by the lake were the largest I've ever seen!

 Here's some milkweed from by favorite part of the garden, the native Alberta plants.

 Slopes entirely covered in pebbles--not so great for ground nesting bees.

Gardens with patches of bare soil were covered with ground-nesting bees.

There were lots of leafcutter bees on these asters. I like the combination with the seed heads of the pulsatilla.

 This hardy yellow rose reminds me of my grandma May, who had them in her garden in Luseland, Saskatchewan.

I think this Assiniboine rose is what I was seeing all over Edmonton, full of bumblebees.

Don't you think this would be the perfect place for a princess-themed birthday party?

Here are some nets, ready for kids to play with bugs.

 This dainty plant is blue woodruff.

 I'm curious whether the colour variation in the Veronica is two cultivars side by side.

And it seems this Veronica is mislabeled as Salvia. No?

Sue snaps photos of some Canada Geese goslings.

The Japanese garden is tranquil, but eerie. No bees. It's too manicured and lacking in bee forage.

Only there were some swallowtail butterflies dancing on the irises.

What a treat to finally visit a garden I have passed by so many time since my childhood, always imagining it was a garden based on the Devonian geological era! I can't wait to return.